BEast Shuts Down to Make Way for Pop-ups

After one last slow jam, BEast, the subterranean lounge that soldiered on after Broadway East closed its upstairs dining room last summer, has called it a night. Owner Ron Castellano tells us he decided to close 2009’s Best Speakeasy in order to focus on his plan to bring pop-up projects to the bi-level space. His still-unnamed restaurant will open in early April with PPX Hospitality culling from a roster of “favorites from Top Chef and Iron Chef, as well as James Beard winners and nominees,” each of whom will take over the space, along with “A-list” mixologists, for a week to three months. Enough to lure hipstervores away from nearby Fat Raddish? We’ll see. Either way, Beast, the Prospect Heights restaurant we hear wasn’t too happy to find itself sharing a name with BEast when the lounge opened a little over two years ago, can now rest easy.